In a long article, Village internet outlet
Politico sets the context:
Senior lawmakers appeared to be close to reaching an agreement Wednesday night over a bipartisan trade promotion authority bill that has already ignited a fierce fight between President Barack Obama and liberal Democrats like Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Two Republicans — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan — have been in negotiations for months to strike a deal with Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has faced intense pressure from labor and progressive groups to walk away from the talks.
Wyden's hometown newspaper has the
news:
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is near to reaching a deal with Republicans on a "fast-track" trade bill regarded as crucial to later producing congressional agreement on a sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact with 12 Pacific Rim nations.
"We are close to finding common ground," Wyden said Thursday morning in a Senate Finance Committee hearing as the panel's chairman, Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah, also delivered an upbeat assessment of his long negotiations with the Oregon Democrat. Wyden indicated there could be a deal as early as Thursday afternoon.
More over the fold.
Politico notes that Elizabeth Warren is helping lead the opposition:
“Are you ready to fight any more deals that say ‘we’re going to help the rich get richer and leave everybody else behind’?,” she asked to roars of approval from hundreds of steelworkers and other union members. “Workers have to fight back. I’m proud to be with you and I’m going to be with you all the way.”
The former Harvard Law School professor is a relative newcomer to the fight led by progressive Democrats like Rep. Rosa DeLauro in the House. But many hope the Massachusetts senator’s emergence as a leader of her party’s liberal wing will put pressure on prominent Democrats — including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — to take a stand on controversial areas of Obama’s trade agenda, including the fast-track bill.
Clinton has remained silent about TPP. Maybe those people she's meeting in Iowa ought to ask her about that. But the fight right now is in Congress.
Rep. Dan Kildee, just back from a trip to Asia with other congressional Democrats, said he doubted the agreement would really require Japan to open its market to more U.S. auto imports or Vietnam to raise labor standards, despite White House assurances on those fronts.
“I started off cynical on this in the first place,” the Michigan Democrat told reporters. “But anybody who went with an open mind and heard what we heard in Japan and saw what we saw in Vietnam would have to have really serious questions about whether or not this agreement lives up to what it is billed to be.”
Call Ron Wyden, right now. Be polite. Be firm.
(202) 224-5244